UniConnect

Inspiration

• University life can be overwhelming and isolating, especially for new students
• Students often miss out on events, opportunities, and connections that would enhance their college experience
• Information about campus activities, courses, and societies is scattered across many platforms
• Traditional social media mixes university content with unrelated posts, creating information overload
• Many students feel disconnected from campus life, particularly those with niche interests
• First-year and international students struggle to navigate the complex social landscape
• We've experienced these challenges ourselves and wanted to create a solution
• Our goal was to build a platform that brings together all aspects of university life in one place

What it does

• Creates virtual communities for both courses and societies where students can find their people
• Provides course-specific discussion spaces where students can ask questions, share notes, and organize study groups
• Allows societies to promote events, recruit members, and maintain continuity between leadership changes
• Highlights upcoming campus events with automated email reminders so students don't miss out
• Generates a personalized "For You" feed based on each student's courses, interests, and society memberships
• Verifies university email addresses to create a trusted community of actual university members
• Enables students to build profiles showing their academic interests, skills, and activities
• Makes it easy to discover new societies and courses related to your interests
• Provides a unified platform where academic and social aspects of university life can connect

How we built it

• Backend: ASP.NET Core 9.0 with Entity Framework Core for reliable API performance
• Database: SQLite for development with an easy path to SQL Server for production
• Frontend: Vue.js creating a responsive interface that works well on laptops and phones
• Authentication: OAuth with email verification specifically for university domains
• Architecture: Repository pattern and service-oriented design to keep our code clean and maintainable
• Data modeling: Created flexible models that work for different types of university communities
• Notifications: Background service sending event reminders via email
• Tagging system: Implemented tags for content categorization and recommendations
• Testing: Used TDD principles to maintain quality while developing quickly
• Team coordination: Regular check-ins and clear task assignments to keep everyone in sync

Challenges we ran into

• Creating an algorithm for the "For You" page that shows relevant content without creating filter bubbles
• Designing a verification system for university emails that feels secure but not annoying
• Balancing the distinct needs of course communities versus society communities
• Visual Studio caused some frustrating issues with team members accidentally breaking the master branch
• Deciding which features to prioritize given our limited hackathon timeframe
• Making our interface intuitive despite the diverse functionality we wanted to include
• Ensuring notifications would be helpful without becoming overwhelming
• Designing database queries that could generate feeds quickly even with lots of users
• Working through the night to fix last-minute bugs before the submission deadline
• Finding the right balance between academic tools and social features

Accomplishments that we're proud of

• Built a working platform that addresses real problems we've faced as students
• Created a system where academic and social aspects of university life can finally connect
• Designed an interface that makes all features accessible without feeling cluttered
• Implemented a tag-based recommendation system that gets better as users engage with it
• Developed a dual-community structure that works well for both courses and societies
• Successfully created a functional prototype with realistic university content in just 48 hours
• Made something we genuinely want to use ourselves as students
• Designed a solution that scales from small clubs to large courses without feeling awkward
• Built an architecture that can grow with increasing user numbers without performance issues
• Maintained good code quality despite the time pressure of the hackathon

What we learned

• The importance of user-centered design when building tools for students
• Test-Driven Development saves time in the long run even when deadlines are tight
• Deployment configuration should be set up early rather than as a last-minute task
• Clear communication is essential when building complex, interconnected systems
• Data models need flexibility to evolve as requirements change over time
• Every feature must be evaluated based on its real value to users, not just because it seems cool
• University communities have unique needs that general social networks don't address
• Personal experiences as students helped us identify problems others might miss
• Working with a diverse team brings different perspectives that improve the final product

What's next for UniConnect

• Mobile app development to provide push notifications and on-the-go access
• Integration with university learning management systems like Canvas and Blackboard
• Analytics tools for society leaders to understand member engagement
• Resource sharing for study materials with version tracking and organization
• Mentorship program matching junior students with seniors in their field of study
• Expanded verification for university staff and society executives
• Interactive campus map showing event locations and popular study spots
• Calendar sync with Google and Outlook for seamless scheduling
• API for student developers to create custom tools for specific needs
• Support for multiple languages to better serve international student communities
• Rich media tools for more engaging posts and discussions
• Offline access to previously viewed content for studying without internet

Built With

• asp.net
• c#
• dotnet
• oauth
• sqlite
• sqlserver
• typescript
• vue